Saturday's Ride - Caldwell to Marlinton - Almost Heaven - West Virginia

November 16, 2024

Saturday's Ride - Caldwell to Marlinton

Pack Goats and Night Riding

We got up Saturday morning and Doug made everyone a killer breakfast including some sourdough toast from a homemade loaf his wife Debbie had made for us. Then we packed up our gear and biked about a mile down the road to meet our shuttle guy, Tracy Asbury from WV Outdoor Adventures.

Tracy was waiting for us at 7:30 in the parking lot by the Marlinton bridge where he loaded all the bikes and we all squeezed into his truck. Then he drove us about 90 minutes down to the bottom of the trail in Caldwell entertaining us with stories about Sam Snead (who lived at the Greenbrier resort), Tyler Childress (a famous local musician) and bear dog hunting in the Greenbrier area.

The gang with Tracy loading our bikes in Marlinton

We arrived at the trailhead in Caldwell around 9:00 AM, unloaded everything, took a few photos and soon we were on our way.

Posing at the trail sign at the start of the trail in Caldwell. (from left to right, Charlie, Doug, Jimmy, Ellen and me)

Start of the trail on our bikes. 53 miles to Marlinton... let's go!

But as we were pulling out, Tracy left us with some last minute instructions to prank a friend of his if we saw him on the trail. He had noticed one of his trail maintenance friends' truck in the Caldwell parking lot - a guy named Carl. He assumed Carl was out on the trail with his bike. So he told us if we saw a tall guy on a bike we should say something rude to him, call him by his name and freak him out a little.

We actually did end up pedaling by a big guy on a bike that we assumed was Carl. So while we didn't make any rude remarks to him, we did call out loudly "Hey Carl" as we passed and he sort of awkwardly laughed and greeted us as we rode by. I'm guessing he was thinking "Where do I know those folks from again?"

Our first big rest stop about 12 miles in.

Finding restaurants or any food between Caldwell and Marlinton (53 miles) proved challenging. I had asked the Greenbrier River Trail group on Facebook about options and discovered that the only place usually open on Saturdays was Jack Horner's Corner in Seebert, but they had closed for the year after the first weekend in November. So it looked like we were gonna have to pack all our food and drinks and bring it with us. (There were also only two water pumps over that stretch).

But then someone called "the Greenbrier Goat" started dropping responses in my fb posts saying, "Why don't you have lunch with some pack goats" and dropped some links and I soon discovered Aaron Coleman and his Greenbrier Goat operation. Aaron has an outpost at Spring Creek Depot (mile 22.5) which serves as a home base for his pack goats and he can also prepare food there. This worked out perfectly for us since we'd be pedaling by there right before noon. So we coordinated a stop where he made us some food, we met his goats and learned about the sport of pack goat-ing.

Mile post 22.5 (Spring Creek Depot) - The Greenbrier Goat

We met all three of his pack goats. Here I am giving Ragnar a neck scratch. He was pretty friendly

Here's Aaron preparing our brunch at his griddle

Aaron prepared a tasty brunch for us including black coffee, apple cider and bacon and eggs over easy on skillet browned jalapeño bagels with butter. We also got a cold water fill-up. The food was warm and tasty and the stop was just perfect for us to get a little protein, some coffee and a little stretch before continuing another 31 miles on to Marlinton for dinner. It was also fun to meet and learn about his goats.

Aaron serving up the food and Charlie making a first grab

Floki enjoying the weather and scenery by the trail

Here's Ragnar posing with a rack on his back that Aaron uses to mount panniers. The "pack goats" will carry food supplies and camping gear in their bags and follow Aaron as he hikes up and down the trail.

Aaron and Ragnar with our group overlooking the trail

After our stop at the Greenbrier Goat we continued on towards the Droop Mountain Tunnel. We met a friendly couple on bikes from Johnson City Tennessee (that phrase just makes you want to sing the line from Wagon Wheel... doesn't it?) We kept passing them and then we'd stop, take a break and they'd pass us.

During our frequent passings, we'd chat with them each time and they told us about how they use to live in Pittsburgh and gave us some great recommendations for trails to try in western PA. I ended up adding a couple of them to my trails to-do list... (Armstrong Trail, Red Bank River Trail and the Allegheny Trail).

The Johnson City folks were two of probably less than 15 bikers over 53 miles that we saw on the trail Saturday which seemed odd because the weather was so beautiful. But it was great to keep catching up and talking with them. They actually took the picture of us below in front of the Droop Mountain Tunnel.

The whole gang in front of Droop Mountain Tunnel at mile post 30.9

After Droop Mountain Tunnel we kept pedaling and taking rest breaks and photo stops every 5-10 miles. All the stops started to add up and we ended up running out of daylight before making it to Marlinton. But it's always good to check out the sunset and it was fun to complete the last couple miles after dark with our headlights.

The Trail was laced with beautiful tall straight white trees forming sort of a natural fence with the bank down to the river

Charlie catching a little rest at mile 41

Ellen at sunset with her head right in front of the sun creating a little halo effect

Me, Jimmy, Ellen and Charlie in front of a field just after sunset about 3 miles south of Marlinton

Jimmy Ellen Charlie and Doug at the same field just after sunset

We finally pulled into Marlinton around 6:00 PM and decided to eat dinner at the Dirtbean, a really cute little restaurant/bike shop that appeared to have some great menu options. Ellen and I had Spanish rice and shrimp and we shared a "Works" flatbread pizza that was excellent.

And I think everyone got a cinnamon roll for desert.

After dinner we rode another mile to our cottage by the river, put our bikes away and unpacked. Then we enjoyed a few drinks, played some more music and a couple of us went down to the river to get some pictures of the night sky. The moon was almost full and made for some beautiful shots on the water.

Moon over the river behind our cottage on the Greenbrier

Strava map and info from our Saturday ride

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Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 53 miles (85 km)

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